UK Insurers Are Losing Out On Digital Home Trends

Posted on: 4 March 2013

By:Patrick Oliphant

Halifax Home Insurance has released a summary of its finding from its inaugural "Halifax Insurance Digital Home Index", a study of how UK households are using today’s technologies. The study shows that on average each home owns on average of GBP 4,164 worth of technology devices. It also revealed that we are so hocked on these devices that we even take them to bed and into the bathroom.

They found that UK consumers find investing in technology is twice as important as spending on beauty grooming; that the bedroom is the new living room. Even more, double the respondents said they prefer to lose their wedding or engagement ring than their <smartphone>.

The “Halifax Insurance Digital Home Index” find that Over 22 million of us (45%) now use technology devices to communicate with friends and family even when they're in the same house, with one in five (22%) preferring to speak on the phone or via social media rather than face to face.

Three-quarters (73%) of the UK population would struggle to go one day without technology devices such as smartphones, laptops and MP3 players, while 35 million (74%) of us check emails and social networks before starting work in the morning.

“Yet, it seems that ensuring these items are covered by insurance, or backed up, is not a priority, meaning many of us face a very real risk of losing our most treasured items," commented Martyn Foulds, Senior Manager at HBOS. From the study, Halifax found that the insurance industry is losing out on GBP 32Billion, with more than one in 10 without sufficient insurance for these gadgets.

The Halifax Insurance Digital Home Index revealed that:

Bedrooms are transforming into technology hubs and are now second only to the living room when it comes to the number of devices used.

A day without technology devices would be a struggle - almost a quarter (23%) would feel 'uneasy or worried', while one in five (19%) would feel concern about 'missing out'.

We are multi-taskers; even when we are in front of our technology devices, half of us admit to regularly using other devices at the same time.

The rise of technology devices available has brought with it a dramatic increase in digital content - two thirds of us (70%) now store music digitally, and almost half (46%) own digital film content.

Our gadgets have become a part of us: 46 million (96%) of the UK population take their mobile phone with them when outside the home, over 9 million (19%) take their MP3 player, and 20 million use their digital camera away from the home.

Within all the findings, the study found that we are inadequately insured. Thanks for telling us Halifax and I hope you readers are taking note.